PC Magazine continuing Tablet PC coverage …

 Cisco Cheng is becoming known as one of the few mainstream press reporters who actually seems to understand the Tablet PC and the possibilities it offers.

In this article, Cisco examines the “Windows Vista Loaded” Tablet PC’s he saw at CES this year, and comments on the Tablet PC experience in Vista.  Here is an excerpt:

All the hype surrounding Microsoft and its latest operating system, Windows Vista, has reached the point where several laptop manufacturers are already bundling it in their systems instead of the official launch date (which is the end of January). In fact, they put forth three convertible tablets loaded with Vista at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. And who can blame them? The tablet experience has improved so much in Vista that vendors are jumping at the opportunity to exploit these new features.

For one, handwriting recognition has greatly improved, wherein each pen stroke is reliably translated into digital text. For other mistakes, Vista has a built-in training program that will fine-tune the operating system to make corrections go a lot smoother, no matter how illegible your handwriting is. If you write over a letter in a word, the operating system knows that a correction is called upon rather than adding another letter. The embedded Vista technologies also make it easier for vendors to add intuitive touch-screen capabilities, and you’ll find at least one vendor that has chosen a touch-screen over the more popular Wacom digitizer screens.

He also goes into some detail on three machines introduced at CES, the Toshiba R400, The HP TX1000, and the OQO Model 2.

Gotta love this guy! Read the entire article here.

(hat tip to our friend and CES cameraman — Eddie Vanderbeck! :-))